Trump denies watching 4-8 hours of TV a day

President Donald Trump on Monday denied a New York Times story on his daily White House life that says he watches up to eight hours of cable TV news a day.

US President Donald Trump says that he is "reading documents a lot" and does not watch between four and eight hours of TV news a day

MANDEL NGAN, AFP

President Donald Trump on Monday denied a New York Times story on his daily White House life that says he watches up to eight hours of cable TV news a day.

"Another false story, this time in the Failing @nytimes, that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day - Wrong!" the US president wrote on Twitter.

"Also, I seldom, if ever, watch CNN or MSNBC, both of which I consider Fake News," he added.

Trump then described CNN news anchor Don Lemon as a person "I once called the 'dumbest man on television!'"

A lengthy New York Times story over the weekend, citing sources close to the president, says that Trump gets up early in the morning and immediately tunes into the cable TV news and commentary shows.

The former New York real estate magnate often fires off early morning tweets that react to cable TV news stories, often those on Fox News.

Trump, 71, is sensitive to criticism on the subject.

"I do not watch much television," Trump told reporters on his recent trip to Vietnam.

"I know they like to say -- people that don't know me -- they like to say I watch television. People with fake sources -- you know, fake reporters, fake sources. But I don't get to watch much television, primarily because of documents. I'm reading documents a lot."

Later in the trip he complained that the only US cable TV news available to watch in the Philippines was CNN.